The NFL is Poop - Week 14

Living Well is the Best Revenge
Not sure if it was the two straight close wins, the talk that they were vulnerable, or maybe even the comments by Steelers safety Anthony Smith, but the Patriots played a great game (or at least a great second half) against the Steelers, winning 34-13. The game was close in the first half until the Patriots tried a trick play, lateraling to Randy Moss (who picked up the bad lateral) and flung it back to Brady, who flung it downfield to Jabar Gaffney who caught it for a 56-yard touchdown, burning safety Anthony Smith in the process.
I don't put any stock in the fact that Smith's comments fired up the Patriots or provided any extra motivation. If they did anything, they made Smith play differently, more aggressively, making him ripe to be attacked on a play like that one.
Belichick said: "The safety play at that position was pretty inviting. We've played against a lot better safeties than him, I'll tell you."

Dallas Does It Again
For the second time this year, the Dallas Cowboys putzed around for three quarters before coming back and beating an inferior team by one point. This time the Cowboys made only one turnover, but it was a crucial fumble on the 1-yard line by Jason Witten. Thankfully for Witten, he redeemed himself by catching the game-winning touchdown with 18 seconds left. If that hadn't happened and the Cowboys had lost, that fumble would have been a black mark on what was otherwise a career game, 15 catches for 138 yards.

Man-Genius
Several tough decisions faced Jets coach Eric Mangini in the last few minutes of his team's loss against the Cleveland Browns. I'll go through them one by one and assess what Mangini should have done, though obviously, subsequent decisions may not have been necessary had he made different decisions in the first place.

3:02 left, Jets trailing 17-12: Mangini goes for a 2-point conversion. Right decision, even though if they had kicked and everything else played out the same it would have worked out a lot better for them. But Mangini had no way of knowing that.

3:02 left, Jets trailing 17-12: Mangini goes for onside kick. Right decision, even if it hadn't worked out, which it did.

1:48 left, Jets trailing 17-12, 4th and 10 from the 20: Mangini kicks a field goal. Wrong decision, he should have gone for it. Normally, I believe in extending the game but in this case he needed one 10 yard play, which admittedly is not incredibly likely, but his other option was several other plays that each might have been more likely to work, but he would have needed all of them. The 4th down play was his best chance.

1:43 left, Jets trailing 17-15: Mangini tries another onside kick. Right decision. People who say they should have kicked deep are idiots. You have three timeouts left so you still have the chance to play defense, but you might as well try another onside kick.

1:31 left, Jets trailing 17-15: Jamal Lewis scores a touchdown. Wrong decision, if Lewis falls down at the 1 yard line the Browns kneel 3 times and win easily.

:37 left, Jets trailing 24-15, 1st and 10 from the 17: Mangini kicks a field goal. Right decision. You need two scores, kick now and give yourself some time to try something. Inside the 10, different story, but from the 17, you extend the game.

:32 left, Jets trailing 24:18: Mangini kicks it deep. Right decision. They tried to catch the Browns off guard and hope they could beat them down the field. But that kick went out of bounds so the element of surprise was lost. The Jets tried again (after offsetting penalties), using a conventional onside, but couldn't recover.

Mangini faced a lot of tough decisions and handled most of them well. But I think choosing wrong in that first key spot put his team in an impossible position.

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life
At least Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Brodie Croyle gets to go home and fuck his hot wife, Kelli.





This Is Not What I Signed Up For
Atlantan Flacons coach Bobby Petrino quit on his team 13 games into the first year of a 5-year contract. Petrino's new contract with Arkansas paid will pay him $2.85 million over 5 years, while the contract he left was worth $24 million over 5 years. At least he's telling the truth when he says it's not about the money. But I don't believe he was telling the truth when he said he hadn't spoke to anyone from Arkansas until Tuesday, the day he took the job. Either that or his agent did all his negotiating for him.

This Has Happened Before
In 1976 Lou Holtz coached the Jets for 13 games, went 3-10 and left to become the coach at the University of Arkansas.

Game of the Week
San Diego Chargers 23 Tennessee Titans 17
The Chargers are keeping up their reputation as the toughest team to figure out. Whenever you think they are turning a corner, they aren't. And when you think they're dead, they aren't. It wasn't until 9 minutes were left in the game that the Chargers woke up and starting moving the ball on offense. Trailing 17-3 they scored a TD quickly, but the Titans killed 5 minutes with a long drive, giving San Diego only 2:24 to tie the game. And thanks to a favorable onfield call on a 4th and 5 pass to Chris Chambers (replays were inconclusive), the Chargers did score. After a failed overtime possession by each team, LaDanian Tomlinson sealed the win, and probably the division, with a 16 yard touchdown run.

Game of Next Week
Washington Redskins at New York Giants
With all the defeats the Redskins snatched from the jaws of victory this season, they still have an excellent shot at the playoffs if they can win their next 3 games, starting here, then against Minnesota and ending against a Dallas team that will have nothing to play for. The Giants have a magic number of 2 to clinch the first wild card in the NFC.

Cheerleader of the Week
Deryn of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.
Deryn has a Yorkie named Armani (stereotypical cheerleader) and her favorite TV show is Martin (stereotypical black girl). She is single but on several occassions in her bio expressed her interest in finding the man of her dreams. She carried a Strawberry Shortcake lunchbox when she was a little girl, she's a procrastinator and she says "really?" a lot. Her favorite color is black.




If The Super Bowl Were Played Today
New England Patriots 31 Dallas Cowboys 14
There is no chance in hell that the Patriots will be knocked out of this spot this year. The Cowboys on the other hand, sometimes they look like legit contender, sometimes they look disinterested. But they need two wins to clinch homefield advantage all the way through the playoffs.